The present invention relates to seats for use by children in vehicles, and particularly, to seats having a child-restraint harness. More particularly, the present invention relates to a juvenile vehicle seat having a child-restraint harness connection and adjustment mechanism.
Juvenile vehicle seats are configured to include child restraint systems. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,047 to Kain, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,652 to Cone et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,382 to Cone, U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,322 to Cone et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,683 to Knoedler et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,302 to Knoedler et al.
According to the present invention, a child-restraint apparatus includes a seat formed to include strap-receiving slots, a restraint strap arranged to pass through some of the strap-receiving slots so that restraint portions thereof are adapted to embrace a child seated on the seat, a buckle unit coupled to the restraint portions of the restraint strap, and an adjustment strap coupled to the buckle unit and arranged to pass through another of the strap-receiving slots. The child-restraint apparatus also includes an adjuster coupled to the adjustment strap and first and second ends of the restraint strap and positioned to lie along a rearward-facing surface of the seat. The coupling of the adjustment strap and the adjuster can be changed to change the effective length of the adjustment strap between the adjuster and the buckle unit selectively to tighten or loosen the restraint portions of the restraint strap relative to a child seated on the seat so that the effective size of a child-restraint harness established along a child-seating surface of the seat can be changed to accommodate, yet snugly restrain, both larger and smaller children on the seat.
In preferred embodiments, the adjuster includes a pentagon-shaped plate formed to include slots receiving the adjustment strap therein and a C-shaped strap anchor coupled to a peak of the pentagon-shaped plate to form a first slot receiving the restraint portion that is arranged to embrace the left shoulder of a child seated on the seat and a second slot receiving the other restraint portion that is arranged to embrace the right shoulder of the seated child. The adjuster is a flat metal stamping formed to include openings into each of the first and second slots to permit each end of the restraint strap to be coupled to and uncoupled from the adjuster easily. When installed, the two portions of the restraint strap and the single portion of the adjustment strap coupled to the adjuster cooperate to define a Y-shaped strap unit along the rearward-facing surface of the seat.